So, umm, the car hunt, I dunno

I drove the 2016.5, if it was quieter than my CX-5 I could not discern it, although I read that there had been improvements. And, the Honda people all claim the CR-V is quieter, even the quietest car they've ever owned, which is truly a mystery, except perhaps the older CR-V's were truly awful.

The 2017 CX-5, on the other hand, you notice it when you first turn the engine on. It's just, and dare I say, that I agree with Mango on this, there's not enough improvement elsewhere to warrant an upgrade. Nav, carplay, sound dampening, leather, a few other things can all be done in the aftermarket. I could probably, were I to go this far, come close to turning my Touring into a Grand Touring for a few thousand dollars.

And there's always the hope of a diesel model.
 
dyingquail said:
I drove the 2016.5, if it was quieter than my CX-5 I could not discern it, although I read that there had been improvements. And, the Honda people all claim the CR-V is quieter, even the quietest car they've ever owned, which is truly a mystery, except perhaps the older CR-V's were truly awful.

The 2017 CX-5, on the other hand, you notice it when you first turn the engine on. It's just, and dare I say, that I agree with Mango on this, there's not enough improvement elsewhere to warrant an upgrade. Nav, carplay, sound dampening, leather, a few other things can all be done in the aftermarket. I could probably, were I to go this far, come close to turning my Touring into a Grand Touring for a few thousand dollars.

And there's always the hope of a diesel model.
Click to expand...

Unless you have a 13/14 with 80K miles or more and you are like me - one who never wants to see a mechanic ever - 17 makes sense if you can stomach the looks. Else no one with a relatively new model should upgrade.
If it was a new engine - yeah then maybe that has to be considered. As of now - for folks coming new to Mazda - a 17 is fantastic - if they like how it looks.

Diesel will pull in certain customers - though not sure what numbers. GL mazda.
 
Kaps said:
Mazda claims to improve NVH on each subsequent models. They have a template for new features each model year and NVH improvement is a default. They will keep improving NVH long after the aliens invade and take over planet earth.
Click to expand...

No arguments there regarding claimed improvement on each subsequent model but from 2012-2016, it isn't that noticeable re the improvements but judging by what people have said, you can easily notice the difference between 2016 & 2017 models.
 
Kaps said:
Unless you have a 13/14 with 80K miles or more and you are like me - one who never wants to see a mechanic ever - 17 makes sense if you can stomach the looks. Else no one with a relatively new model should upgrade.
If it was a new engine - yeah then maybe that has to be considered. As of now - for folks coming new to Mazda - a 17 is fantastic - if they like how it looks.

Diesel will pull in certain customers - though not sure what numbers. GL mazda.
Click to expand...

I disagree to a point. I have had 2 solid test rides in the 2017 CX-5 and the difference in noise and ride is substantial. I know my 14 GT now feels old and loud. If you have a 16 and the noise drives you crazy, you might be able to get a good deal on moving up to a 17. Me, I am waiting for the diesel.
 
dougal said:
I disagree to a point. I have had 2 solid test rides in the 2017 CX-5 and the difference in noise and ride is substantial. I know my 14 GT now feels old and loud. If you have a 16 and the noise drives you crazy, you might be able to get a good deal on moving up to a 17. Me, I am waiting for the diesel.
Click to expand...

+ the 2017 model is more comfortable to use day to day
 
We traded a '15 Mazda3 GT with 10K miles for the new CX-5 GT for noise and ride. The '3 was a great little car, but with 18" wheels it rode rough, and it was noisy. The new care is SO much nicer. I also really liked the CX-9, but in the end we didn't need the third row seats, nor AWD, nor another ten grand to buy it. So it was the '5. Really like the new car - there's more than just a few updates - THE ENTIRE CAR was updated. LOL.

Anyway, if you're keeping the old one there are some fairly easy tricks to quiet it quite a lot....
1. Tires - as you mention. A quieter running tire will help.
2. Dynamat or equal - you only need a 12" square piece on each door. You could do this yourself if you're handy, otherwise find a shop that does this work and ask how they're using sound-deadening material - you don't need to over the entire door panel.
3. Remove all the seats and carpet and put a layer over the floor, reinstall everything. It will be quiet.
4. Hood pad - make sure it has a sound deadening pad under the hood.
5. Get a '17 windshield - they're 2-layer accoustical glass. (Just kidding, you can't really do this. :) )

I was going to do all this with our '3 but ended up trading it off instead.

On the Malibu - nice car. We also like Impala, and Volt. In the end I talked the wife into a CUV because our so-Cal roads are so bad you need a taller tire and and longer suspension to soak up all the expansion joints and chuckholes. We have third-world-country roads here and now they want to raise taxes to fix them. What a joke.

I have a '15 Colorado 4x4 and it has been flawless - love the car. They took half the team off the Silverado/Sierra line to do the Colorado/Canyon so it got all the lateset technology GM has to offer. It rides good and is very quiet - much like a car. We are very happy with the smaller pickup truck, and GM. Our local dealer offers better service and is more reliable than our Mercedes or BMW dealers. I'm never going back to the Euro-premiums - they are no more!
 
Browneye said:
We traded a '15 Mazda3 GT with 10K miles for the new CX-5 GT for noise and ride. The '3 was a great little car, but with 18" wheels it rode rough, and it was noisy. The new care is SO much nicer. I also really liked the CX-9, but in the end we didn't need the third row seats, nor AWD, nor another ten grand to buy it. So it was the '5. Really like the new car - there's more than just a few updates - THE ENTIRE CAR was updated. LOL.

Anyway, if you're keeping the old one there are some fairly easy tricks to quiet it quite a lot....
1. Tires - as you mention. A quieter running tire will help.
2. Dynamat or equal - you only need a 12" square piece on each door. You could do this yourself if you're handy, otherwise find a shop that does this work and ask how they're using sound-deadening material - you don't need to over the entire door panel.
3. Remove all the seats and carpet and put a layer over the floor, reinstall everything. It will be quiet.
4. Hood pad - make sure it has a sound deadening pad under the hood.
5. Get a '17 windshield - they're 2-layer accoustical glass. (Just kidding, you can't really do this. :) )

I was going to do all this with our '3 but ended up trading it off instead.

On the Malibu - nice car. We also like Impala, and Volt. In the end I talked the wife into a CUV because our so-Cal roads are so bad you need a taller tire and and longer suspension to soak up all the expansion joints and chuckholes. We have third-world-country roads here and now they want to raise taxes to fix them. What a joke.

I have a '15 Colorado 4x4 and it has been flawless - love the car. They took half the team off the Silverado/Sierra line to do the Colorado/Canyon so it got all the lateset technology GM has to offer. It rides good and is very quiet - much like a car. We are very happy with the smaller pickup truck, and GM. Our local dealer offers better service and is more reliable than our Mercedes or BMW dealers. I'm never going back to the Euro-premiums - they are no more!
Click to expand...

Nice post. I never found the noise to be too bad until spending time in the 17. The overall car is just so much nicer. I can't wait for the diesel. 300 lb feet of torque in a quiet and comfortable cabin. Sign me up!
 
Browneye said:
Anyway, if you're keeping the old one there are some fairly easy tricks to quiet it quite a lot....
1. Tires - as you mention. A quieter running tire will help.
2. Dynamat or equal - you only need a 12" square piece on each door. You could do this yourself if you're handy, otherwise find a shop that does this work and ask how they're using sound-deadening material - you don't need to over the entire door panel.
3. Remove all the seats and carpet and put a layer over the floor, reinstall everything. It will be quiet.
4. Hood pad - make sure it has a sound deadening pad under the hood.
5. Get a '17 windshield - they're 2-layer accoustical glass. (Just kidding, you can't really do this. :) )
Click to expand...

That's pretty much the list. I don't know how far I'll get with it all. I was looking for shops, the only one talking about Dynamat is not close by, probably need a day off. There's a place with some videos showing CX-5 work but that's a couple of hours away. I'm somewhat challenged by the locals and lack thereof in many cases. A lot of shops could probably do it but I'd rather it was someone who does it semi-regularly and promotes it as part of their business.

I'll see if the tires help. One thing about the tires is that it takes one of the low-ball dealer arguments off the table regarding my trade. In theory it should bump the car up a grade from good to very good, lol, I kid myself the dealer will low-ball whatever I bring in.

On the Malibu - nice car. We also like Impala, and Volt. In the end I talked the wife into a CUV because our so-Cal roads are so bad you need a taller tire and and longer suspension to soak up all the expansion joints and chuckholes. We have third-world-country roads here and now they want to raise taxes to fix them. What a joke.
Click to expand...

It's the old California rule, don't fix the roads, spend the money on something else, then complain that you don't have any money to fix the roads. Where I live, the county is supposed to cut the brush along the sides of the roads. It got so bad at one point that I was driving down the middle of the road to dodge it. Doesn't help when you've got crappy land owners exacerbating the problems but what once was done annually is pretty much done not at all.
 
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dougal said:
Nice post. I never found the noise to be too bad until spending time in the 17. The overall car is just so much nicer. I can't wait for the diesel. 300 lb feet of torque in a quiet and comfortable cabin. Sign me up!
Click to expand...

I think this is kind of what held me up. The car is nice but it was still the same car, and in some minor ways, even less of a car. I'd net around $3K on a trade-in but that still left me with $30K of new payments for too much of the same car. If the diesel really gets 30% better mileage, and performs better, then I can make a better case for it.
 
Browneye said:
Anyway, if you're keeping the old one there are some fairly easy tricks to quiet it quite a lot....
4. Hood pad - make sure it has a sound deadening pad under the hood.
Click to expand...

They already come with one of these

5. Get a '17 windshield - they're 2-layer accoustical glass. (Just kidding, you can't really do this. :) )
Click to expand...

Correct as the front a pillars are different which also means the windscreen is different to previous model
 
You think California roads are bad, have you driven in NE Ohio? Although to be fair, they've repaired more roads the past 3 years then they did in the previous 20. There's still some that are like driving on the moon, but there's a lot of really great ones now.

Sent from my XT1585 using Tapatalk
 
Got the new tires and I have to say that the situation has improved. I don't know if it was the old tires, the new tires or my imagination but it's better. The one negative is that the tires seem to ride kind of soft, or floaty, but it's a trade I'm willing to make.

It's still not a quiet car but it's a much more livable car.
 
dyingquail said:
Got the new tires and I have to say that the situation has improved. I don't know if it was the old tires, the new tires or my imagination but it's better. The one negative is that the tires seem to ride kind of soft, or floaty, but it's a trade I'm willing to make.

It's still not a quiet car but it's a much more livable car.
Click to expand...

What tyres did you put on?

My brother just got a set of Cooper's in 19" for his GT, says they are noticeably quieter than the previous tyres he had.
 
dyingquail said:
Got the new tires and I have to say that the situation has improved. I don't know if it was the old tires, the new tires or my imagination but it's better. The one negative is that the tires seem to ride kind of soft, or floaty, but it's a trade I'm willing to make.

It's still not a quiet car but it's a much more livable car.
Click to expand...

Make sure they got them aired-up to the proper pressure. I find any technician, tire or otherwise, misses the mark. Usually too much air.
My new CX-5 had 42-44psi all around. Dropped them to 36 and it's cadddyyylllaccc... LOL

TireRack sells the new Toyos that came on the new '5 - pretty cheap too, like $136 each. I also see they are rated for wear at 300. Ouch! I expect them to be gone by 25K miles.

The Pirrelli C7 looks to be a primo choice, tons of very high ratings, quiet and 700-A-A. Wow. With rebate they're not much more than the Toyos.

If I were you I would order out a piece of dynamat for each door, remove the door panels and plastic sheeting and stick one on each door. Might be just enough to keep you happy for a bit.

Did a quick search, looks like Amazon has that stuff, here's one that would do each door with some leftovers to put over the wheelwells: https://www.amazon.com/dp/ (commissions earned)


Moonlighter said:
What tyres did you put on?

My brother just got a set of Cooper's in 19" for his GT, says they are noticeably quieter than the previous tyres he had.
Click to expand...

I just put Cooper Discoverers on my Colorado and like them a LOT. They're not quiet though. (whistle)
 
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^^Yes to Cooper Discoverer (on wife's Highlander- made it a better just a bit less frugal on gas but also very capable in snow so worth the slight mpg penalty), hard no to that POS Pirelli tire..imo OE Toyos better in every aspect except for maybe noise but it ain't by much...I'd go w/the Conti tire in OE 19..or the newer cheaper Toyos probably.
 
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I really don't want to dynamat it myself but I'm not sure I want to pay $1,500 for someone else to do it either.

I'm gonna see if the tires improve things enough. There is a significant improvement at lower speeds and especially on good concrete. Noisy freeway, wind noise, engine noise, those are all still there, but it's enough better that it's more the wind and engine noise that i notice. I think my tires were worn out.
 
dyingquail said:
I really don't want to dynamat it myself but I'm not sure I want to pay $1,500 for someone else to do it either.

I'm gonna see if the tires improve things enough. There is a significant improvement at lower speeds and especially on good concrete. Noisy freeway, wind noise, engine noise, those are all still there, but it's enough better that it's more the wind and engine noise that i notice. I think my tires were worn out.
Click to expand...

Dynamat is not hard to install at all. Putting it in door might add enough mass to the skin to dampen some of the noise down. Besides I'm sure you can find someone to install it for you for much less.
 
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